This message is from: "Teressa Kandianis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
We put in the wire encased in vinyl - I believe it is called Centaur - four strands between wood posts about 8' apart. They have a range of choices from the single strand to strips in varying widths. We've seen what appears to be relatively old installations of vinyl strips around here in Whatcom County. I haven't noticed that they are discolored but pretty much every one of them were sagging quite a bit. The strands we used are tensioned with tensioners at the corners and when we first got our fjords, we had to retension practically daily due to leaning on and through the strands. The corner posts took on a distinctly inward leaning aspect. That's when we put in electric - one strand just below the second strand of Centaur on the inside of the fence. We're using a solar powered unit to charge it and haven't had any problems at all with it staying charged up. And the fjords don't lean anymore and don't slither out through the wires. If we hadn't electrified the fence, I don't think any kind of fencing would have kept them from leaning and so loosening the posts. We've just had the vinyl coated wire up since last summer but haven't noticed any cracking or breaking - even around the tensioners where the wires have been pulled out and retightened many times before we put in the electric. And when we switched to our next door neighbor's pasture to give ours a rest, we just put electric around the perimeter and haven't had an escape yet. But the four strands of white and the posts look nice around the pasture and since the pasture is in front of our house, we wanted a nice look in addition to utility. We did learn to invert the top hinge of the gates. In attempting to describe the fjord temperament, we've added the story about Nina's encounter with the gate. She loves to stick her head sideways through the bars and then reach for grass on the other side...so before we inverted the hinges, she apparently lifted up a walk through gate which is probably only 4' wide (and must have unfastened the chain first - have to do these things in order, right?). We found the gate in the middle of the pasture so we figured she just kept grazing with the gate around her neck until it eventually fell off. Nothing to panic about as long as it doesn't interfere with dinner. By the way, they have slimmed right down - I think they were major porkers before. We're keeping their pasture mowed and they are turned out on it all the time. I still worry that they will go hungry as the grass is quite short and they have to work at it. Now that I know the sure signs of obesity, can anyone advise on knowing if their fjords are getting enough food? (They get their muffins for nutritional supplements) Is there a way of calculating how much forage they can get in a given area? Are there other signs to look for to be sure they are getting enough food aside from getting overweight? It seems it would be easier just to put them in a dry paddock and then give them hay according to their body size every day - but how boring for them! Teressa - still recovering from a couple of weeks in rainy, foggy, cold, miserable Kodiak where I heard someone brought in the island's first fjord mare and baby.
